Mitsubishi HC5000BL Projector Review

October 25, 2006 - Art Feierman

In my viewing room (our great room, which doubles as a home theater), I sit closer than most – about 11 feet back from my 128″ diagonal screen. With my 720p projector, HDTV looks pretty good, but I’m perhaps 2 feet too close to have it look razor sharp. With the Mitsubishi HC5000BL, however, at the same seating distance, I enjoy the feel of sharpness that would require me to back up several feet with my projector.

Click to Enlarge.So close

In other words, I’m sold on 1080p. I truly appreciate the difference. I would say that people who, in a normal movie theater, like to sit half way back, or closer to the screen, are definitely 1080p people. Those who prefer the last row, instead, are probably fine with a 720p projector.

You can click on the image of Gandalf below for a larger, cropped version. Remember, both Gandalf below and the image from Starship Troopers immediately above, are both from standard DVD. Despite the much lower resolution of the source, there is still a sharpness difference between the Mitsubishi projector and the Samsung!

Click Image to Enlarge

Bottom line, the Mitsubishi HC5000BL’s higher resolution definitely produces a sharper appearing image that most potential users will appreciate. Whether, from an optics or other standpoint, the HC5000BL turns out to be particularly sharp (or not), compared to other 1080p projectors, it definitely exceeds the sharpness of 720p projectors, even especially sharp ones like my BenQ.